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[timmeh]

I just tried scouting out a potential area for my next fortress, along a major river.  Unfortunately, it has a double-layer aquifer.  I tried using Tweak to remove the aquifer, but it resulted in the VERY quick flooding of the entire map, as the aquifer was the only thing keeping the river in check.  I have access to magma and a bottomless pit, but I don't have much experience with aquifers, what is the best way to get through a double layer one?

[Derakon]

With magma, piercing aquifers is straightforward. Make a 5x5 opening in the aquifer, and let it fill with water. Then pour magma into the opening, turning the water into obsidian. Now as long as you leave the outer ring of obsidian there, you can dig through the rest to make a 3x3 hole one level down, let it fill with water, then pour magma down again. That'll give you a 1x1 space in the middle of the second layer that you can dig through to reach the non-aquifer layer.

Alternatively, you can just dig through the obsidian surrounding the magma, which will never have an aquifer in it. This only works if you have a magma pipe instead of a pool, and of course the pipe has to reach up above the aquifer.

You could probably rig something up to pump water out of the aquifer and into the bottomless chasm too.

Finally, if the aquifer is in a stony layer, you can stop it from "leaking" by smoothing the stone (if I recall correctly). However, you'll need a way to keep the water at bay while you do this.

[Untelligent]

EDIT: post ninja'd. =p

Is that a magma pipe or a magma pool?

If it's the former, just dig through the obsidian ring around it straight to the bottom of the map. You may want some marksdwarves stationed around it to keep the magma critters away.

If the latter, it won't extend far enough, so you'll have to dig straight through the aquifer. Keep in mind that you can remove excess water by pumping water back into the aquifer.

[mjo625]

If your map is cold enough for outdoor water to freeze, and it is a magma pool rather than a pipe, the freezing method is probably your best bet.

[timmeh]

The magma is a pipe, so I could dig through the obsidion, but I'd rather not, as it's a ways off from the main fortress area.

Thanks everyone, I'll let you know how it goes.

Out of curiosity, what is the best way to get the magma to the aquifer?  I think the first layer may actually be even with the surface of the magma, so I'm not sure if channels will work for that...

[Hyndis]

You can just construct a magmaduct with any material, even ice. Also, so long as magma doesn't get on the passable tile of the pump, you can use a wood pump. Note that magma will only burn stuff if its in the same tile, which means yes, wooden doors will hold back a huge flood of magma. Its only when the door is opened and magma enters the tile as the door will it vaporize.

[Aspgren]

You can just construct a magmaduct with any material, even ice. Also, so long as magma doesn't get on the passable tile of the pump, you can use a wood pump. Note that magma will only burn stuff if its in the same tile, which means yes, wooden doors will hold back a huge flood of magma. Its only when the door is opened and magma enters the tile as the door will it vaporize.

I thought magma heated up surrounding tiles? maybe even Z levels?

[mjo625]

Constructed walls/floors are immune to heat. And everything else for that matter. I would assume that that wil be fixed someday, although I don't follow the dev logs.

[Brodiggan]

It's possible to drill down through any number of aquifer layers, if you're careful. You'll need some wood and glass if you have access to it, to make mechanisms. To begin with, I should say this idea isn't mine, I tweaked it a bit to make it work for what I needed, but the basic idea came from someone else (unfortunately I can't remember who it was, or I'd give credit where credit is due). (Edit: Found it, the original idea came from Tanelorn.)

X = up/down stairway
H = Channel
* = Gearbox
@> = pump, with water pumping in the direction of the arrow/caret
- | = horizontal axles
WWW = water wheel
. = empty square
o = Damp Stone
~ = Water filled square
To start with you need to cut a stairway down into the aquifer, then channel out the a square on each side of the stairway from above, like this...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

.....
..H..
.HXH.
..H..
.....


These four channels will allow you to pump out water from around the stairs, giving your miners a place to stand while working on the aquifer level. Before you get to that though, you need a place to pump the water to, and a power source. The way I usually do it is to place the pumps like this...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

.......
....^..
.<@H@..
..HXH..
..@H@>.
..v....
.......


Then cut a channel in front of each pump, allowing the water to drop back into the aquifer.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

....H..
....^..
H<@H@..
..HXH..
..@H@>H
..v....
..H....


Now you just need a power source, I attach one waterwheel to each pump, and use the flow of the aquifer into the drainage channels to run the wheels, which, admittedly, is a bit excessive dwarfish, but the extra power can be useful running whatever you need later on, and it saves on gearboxes, which depending on what sort of terrain you have access to, may be hard to manufacture.

I usually lay them out like this...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

...........
..WWW......
...|..H..W.
...|..^--W.
..H<@H@..W.
....HXH....
.W..@H@>H..
.W--v..|...
.W..H..|...
......WWW..
...........


When you're ready to go, just channel out the tile separating each water wheel from the pumps drainage channel, like so.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

...........
..WWWH.....
...|..H..W.
...|..^--W.
..H<@H@..W.
.H..HXH..H.
.W..@H@>H..
.W--v..|...
.W..H..|...
.....HWWW..
...........


If one of the pumps doesn't quite kick in, just run it manually for a few cycles, once the whole system is going the waterwheels should keep moving on their own.

Ok, deep breath. So the setup is a bit complex, but once you have your waterwheels in place, you can start drilling. Please be sure to save first! I haven't lost a miner doing this, yet, and if you do each step exactly this way you shouldn't either, but it's seemed close a few times, so be careful about it.

Once you're ready to start drilling, drop down to the aquifer level, and you'll see this...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

ooooooooooo
oo~~~~ooooo
oooooo~oo~o
ooooooooo~o
oo~oo.ooo~o
o~oo.X.oo~o
o~ooo.oo~oo
o~ooooooooo
o~oo~oooooo
ooooo~~~~oo
ooooooooooo


The tiles just on either side of the stairs might have 1-3 water in them, and will fluctuate around there as the pumps above drain the water coming in from the aquifer away, but they should be safe to work on. If you didn't use an up/down stairway, cut a down stairway now to get a look at the next level. Every aquifer level you cut through will be the same, except the last one. On the last level you just need to wall in the 4 squares next to the stairs and then continue down at least one level before you cut out to the sides. If you don't notice you're on the last aquifer level you may inadvertently flood the level below, making it more difficult to proceed, so always check first.

Assuming there is another aquifer layer below, begin by channeling eight tiles away, as follows:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

ooooooooooo
oo~~~~ooooo
oooooo~oo~o
ooooHHooo~o
oo~oo.oHo~o
o~oH.X.Ho~o
o~oHo.oo~oo
o~oooHHoooo
o~oo~oooooo
ooooo~~~~oo
ooooooooooo


Now dig out the 4 tiles that are diagonal from the stairs, like so..

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

ooooooooooo
oo~~~~ooooo
oooooo~oo~o
ooooHHooo~o
oo~o...Ho~o
o~oH.X.Ho~o
o~oH...o~oo
o~oooHHoooo
o~oo~oooooo
ooooo~~~~oo
ooooooooooo


And channel out 4 more tiles, extending the trenches you've already dug like so...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

ooooooooooo
oo~~~~ooooo
oooooo~oo~o
oooHHHoHo~o
oo~o...Ho~o
o~oH.X.Ho~o
o~oH...o~oo
o~oHoHHHooo
o~oo~oooooo
ooooo~~~~oo
ooooooooooo


Now this next part seems to be the mildly dangerous one. One at a time, digg out the 4 remaining tiles bordering the central stairs area. This will give you access to the square immediately below where each pump drains, so go ahead and cut a channel down to the next aquifer layer, when you're done, you should have this.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

ooooooooooo
oo~~~~ooooo
ooooooHoo~o
oooHHH.Ho~o
ooH....Ho~o
o~oH.X.Ho~o
o~oH....Hoo
o~oH.HHHooo
o~ooHoooooo
ooooo~~~~oo
ooooooooooo


You'll get a rush of water each time, and if you have multiple miners working below one may be accidentally swept into the aquifer, so take your time and do each tile individually. Once you have the channels cut though, the center section should no longer be receiving water from the aquifer, since aquifer tiles don't fill nearby tiles with water diagonally.

To pierce another aquifer level, cut disassemble the pumps above, and cut a channel through the floor at the end of each axle, then build 4 gearboxes over the channels, and reassemble the pumps on the first aquifer level. With the pumps in place on the aquifer level just channel out the 4 tiles around the stairs, feeding the pumps. When you're done, you should have the following...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

Waterwheel Level:     Aquifer level:
 ...........           ooooooooooo
 ..WWWH.....           oo~~~~ooooo
 ...|..H..W.           ooooooHoo~o
 ...|..*--W.           oooHHH^Ho~o
 ..H*.H...W.           ooH<@H@Ho~o
 .H..HXH..H.           o~oHHXHHo~o
 .W...H.*H..           o~oH@H@>Hoo
 .W--*..|...           o~oHvHHHooo
 .W..H..|...           o~ooHoooooo
 .....HWWW..           ooooo~~~~oo
 ...........           ooooooooooo


From there, just repeat everything one level down. You'll need to add a vertical axle for each pump if you have more than two aquifer levels to punch through.

Again.. on the last aquifer level, just wall in the 4 squares around the stairs and leave at least one dry level between you and the aquifer.

[RAM]

Can you drain the top aquifer into the bottom aquifer?

[Brodiggan]

You can't completely drain it, every tile in an aquifer will generate essentially unlimited water, but you can use a channel to drain the water coming out of an aquifer tile, down into another aquifer layer.

[timmeh]

It's possible to drill down through any number of aquifer layers, if you're careful. You'll need some wood and glass if you have access to it, to make mechanisms. To begin with, I should say this idea isn't mine, I tweaked it a bit to make it work for what I needed, but the basic idea came from someone else (unfortunately I can't remember who it was, or I'd give credit where credit is due). (Edit: Found it, the original idea came from Tanelorn.)

(CUT TO SAVE POSTING SPACE)

Again.. on the last aquifer level, just wall in the 4 squares around the stairs and leave at least one dry level between you and the aquifer.

Thanks!  That is EXACTLY what I needed to know!